A Journey from Cape Cod to Cape Horn by Cessna Skyhawk to help raise awareness about organ transplants and to raise help for recipients and their families

Dear Friends:

This is a picture of us in front of our wonderful little Cessna. On the right is Corrine, a purser with British Airways and private pilot, and on the left is Chris, until 2010, a Captain on the Boeing 747 also with BA. Now we are only together thanks to King's College Hospital.In early 2010, Chris almost died from liver and kidney failure due to a never diagnosed childhood exposure to hepatitis. Corrine had to face this ordeal with absolutely no warning but found out that there is a support structure for family members in these circumstances. At King's College Hospital, London, that help is the Listen Group. Listen operates housing for family members in need who want to be near their loved ones during their crisis. Listen also operates a support group and information network to help people adjust to their new realities.

After many months in intensive care, Chris was miraculously given a liver transplant at what could only be described as the last minute and most certainly would not be here today if it were not for the incredible team of people at King's College Hospital, one of the top organ transplant facilities in the world, giving the gift of life to hundreds of people a year, and leading the way in research. Transplant surgeons and the army of support behind them deliver miracles to people every day despite having to contend with a shortage of organs. After we’re gone, each one of us can help save up to 8 lives and improve 75 others by being an organ donor but a lot of us have not given enough thought to the issue. 1000 Britons and 500 Canadians die every year waiting for a transplant. 18 Americans die every day and it is a worldwide problem. We recycle paper, glass and plastic yet we throw ourselves away when we could simply tick a box and help. It's free and shouldn't we treat life with the same respect that we would treat an empty water bottle with?As a way to raise awareness about organ donation and raise help for King’s College Hospital Charity, Corrine and Chris flew our Cessna from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts off Cape Cod to Cape Horn at the southern tip of Argentina. The route we took made this a journey of some 23,000 miles or 33,000 km round trip over long stretches of open water, Amazonian rainforests, the Andes, and through Antarctic weather and out to the Falkland Islands.

After you click on the blogs above and look through the pictures below, pleaseregister an Organ Donor by clicking on one of the links at the bottom of this pageand if you can, please give to King's which is one of the world's foremost transplant and reasearch facilities. Every year, they give the gift of life to hundreds of people. I’m not quite sure why I made it through my ordeal, given how sick I was, but maybe this chance to try and help others in the same desperate situation is why I’m still here.Thank you for taking the time to read this and we appreciate your interest.Chris and Corrine McLaughlin

With Thanks to our SupportersPlease Click on a logo to see what they do

And special thanks to Betsey Sanpere for handling our public relations and media affairs. Betsey can be contacted at: artsinthearprt@aol.com

Route Map and Photo Galleries

Nantucket, Massachusetts to Naples, Florida

Naples, Florida to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos to Sint Maarten

Sint Maarten to Grenada

Grenada to Georgetown, Guyana

Georgetown, Guyana to Cayenne, French Guiana

Cayenne, French Guiana to Belem, Brazil

Belem to Sao Luis

Sao Luis to Fortaleza

Fortaleza to Recife

Recife to Salvador de Bahia

Salvador de Bahia to Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro to Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre, Brazil to Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo, Uruguay to Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires to Trelew

Trelew to Comodoro Rivadavia

Comodoro Rivadavia to Rio Gallegos

Rio Gallegos, Argentina to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

Volunteer Point, East Falkland

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands to Ushuaia, Argentina

Ushuaia to Rio Chico

El Calafate and Viedma Glacier

Rio Chico to Rada Tilly

Rada Tilly to Cholila

Lago Cholila Lodge

Cholila to Trelew

Trelew to Tigre

Tigre, Argentina to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

Foz do Iguacu to Campo Grande

Campo Grande to Brasilia

Brasilia to Belem

Belem, Brazil to Grenada

Grenada to Sint Maarten

Sint Maarten to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos to Naples, Florida

Naples, Florida to Nantucket, Massachusetts

Visit these sites to become an Organ Donor Now

www.organdonation.nhs.uk

www.donatelife.net

www.beadonor.ca

www.incucai.gov.ar

www.organdonation.nhs.uk

www.indt.edu.uy

www.abto.org.br

Q&A

When did the flight take place? From early January to the end of March, 2012. Our "angle" was that our little Cessna is a bit small and range limited for such an immense journey. The challenge was making the journey despite only having 49 gallon tanks. That's enough for about 4 hours of flight with safe reserves. The icing on the cake was the 400 mile flight out to the Falkland Islands and back to Argentina.Why the need? Last year in the UK, 1000 lives were saved by organ transplant surgery. And 28,000 transplants were performed in the US. Yet in the US, at any time, there are 110,000 people waiting for a transplant of some kind and 18 of those people die every day. And one Canadian dies every 5 days because there aren't enough organ donors. It's a worldwide problem that is free to solve. Why throw it away?

Almost 90% of us believe in Organ Donation but only 40% do anything about it. A shining example of success is that 68% of Colorado residents however are donors. So we can do better. Please send me an email if you can think of any other guaranteed way to save life totally for free.Can I send a donation to help? Yes. King's College Hospital can receive cheques. And if you include a note requesting that Listen receive the donation, then your kind donation can help family members of those needing transplants as well as the patients themselves.Thank you for our generosity.

Where to? Please write Flight4Lives on the back (UK) or in the memo area (US) of your cheque and send your donation to either:

Kings College Hospital CharityLondon SE5 9BR England

OrFriends of King's College London Association, Inc.C/O Chapel & York Limited.1000 N West Street, Suite 1200Wilmington, DE 19801And if I'm a US resident? Then print this FORMto record your fully tax deductible donation. Friends of King's at the Delaware address above are a US registered 501c3 organization. And thank you again.